There was heavy security on ground at the Ikeja under-bridge in Lagos as members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) commences nationwide protests over the removal of petrol subsidy.
The organised labour had said the palliatives rolled out by the President in his nationwide broadcast on Monday night, was very insignificant to cushion the effect of the suffering in the country.
This is as the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero was conspicuously absent at the meeting.
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, specifically said it was going ahead with the proposed national protest on Wednesday.
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Presidential Steering Committee on Palliatives held at the State House, Abuja, the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, appealed to organised labour to suspend the planned protest.
He said: “We have laid out the plans, the interventions of Mr. President, as you all heard in his broadcast yesterday (Monday), we made it clear that this was just Mr. President’s initial rollout and interventions and that conversations will be ongoing as we go along.
The organised labour is currently marching to the state House of Assembly. The procession has resulted in a gridlock in the area.
The NLC had asked the Federal Government to “immediately deal decisively with the criminal content of subsidy instead of exposing ordinary citizens to avoidable pain and hardship.”
The presidential candidate for African Action Congress in the 2023 General Elections, Omowole Sowore, could also be sighted at the protest.
